Christian Anarchism

369 Pages·2013·2.97 MB·English

by  Christoyannopoulos

Title page
Christian Anarchism
A Political Commentary on the Gospel
[Abridged edition]
Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Copyright page Copyright © Alexandre
Christoyannopoulos, 2011
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission,
except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion.
Originally published in the UK by Imprint Academic, PO Box 200, Exeter EX5
5YX, UK
Originally published in the USA by Imprint Academic, Philosophy
Documentation Center PO Box 7147, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7147, USA
2013 digital version by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Quotations
Christianity in its true sense puts an end to the State. It was so understood from
its very beginning, and for that Christ was crucified.
- Leo Tolstoy
Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.
- St. John of the Cross
Acknowledgements
This book is the product of six years of doctoral research undertaken at the
University of Kent, in Canterbury, England. Since the defence of that thesis in
September 2008, the taking on of various academic duties and responsibilities
have prevented me from making major revisions to the text, and therefore from
integrating into it the related material which I have come across or read since.
Apart from adding a few references to such material and other minor
modifications, the book is not significantly different from the original thesis.
The aim of the thesis was to produce a clear and accessible synthesis of all the
Christian anarchist publications I managed to come across and study during my
research, as well as a comprehensive set of references to these. The aim of the
original, hardback version of this book was to present both that synthesis and its
references to a wider audience. This abridged, paperback version presents almost
exactly the same text, but without the original version’s detailed comments and
references in the footnotes - the main aim being to thereby make the book more
affordable. The footnotes of the current version therefore only contain the most
important comments and reference details (such as for verbatim quotations).
Those who wish to study the Christian anarchist literature and its context in
more depth will find the full comments and references in the hardback version.
As to the main text, the only changes to it are the current paragraph, the
rectification of a few typos, and the addition of two bracketed comments where
the text refers to extensive footnotes only present in the original. By implication,
just as with the hardback version, given that the Introduction’s function is to set
the context, locate the book in the wider literature, and introduce the Christian
anarchist thinkers relied on for the rest of the book, readers less interested in
such preliminaries can skip these and jump straight to Chapter 1.
I would not have been able to complete my PhD without the financial support
of my parents. Their love, care and patience, along with that of my (then) partner
Tânia Gonçalves, provided the ideal climate for my research to take root, grow
and bear fruits. My gratitude to all three of them is immense.
My doctoral work was supervised mainly by Dr Stefan Rossbach. His
comments on my work were always sympathetic and helpful, and even when he
took issue with Christian anarchists, his feedback was always informed by a
concern for me to improve my case and hence theirs. Those he supervises are
envied by those he does not, and the Department of Politics and International
Relations at Kent owes a lot to him for his dedication to research students as
Director of Research. I am also grateful to Dr Peter Moore and Dr Joseph Milne,
whose invitation to return to Kent and to sit in numerous modules in theology
and religious studies was instrumental in setting the context for me to start my
PhD. They also both acted as supervisors from time to time, and especially in
Joseph’s case, as friend and collaborator too. My thanks also go to my
examiners, Professor David McLellan and Dr Ruth Kinna.
My work benefited from the stimulating feedback and friendship of numerous
research students in politics and in religious studies. They cannot all be listed
here, but deserving special mention for their impact on my doctoral work are, in
the religious studies crowd, Duane Williams, David Lewin, Todd Mei, Brian
Edwards and Geoffrey Cornelius, and in the politics crowd, James Schillabeer
(whose careful proofreading of my thesis was of tremendous help), George
Sotiropoulos, and Charles Devellennes. Fanny Forest has also been of great
support in helping me convert my thesis into this book.
I have also found help and inspiration among the academic networks I have
joined and the conferences they organised. These include the Anarchist Studies
Network and the broader Political Science Association it belongs to, the Society
for the Study of Theology, the Religion and Politics standing group of the
European Consortium of Political Research, and the Research on Anarchism and
Anarchist Academics mailing lists. To those networks (among others), and more
to the point to their members who have helped me articulate and improve my
work, I owe another big “thank you.”
Finally, I wish to thank all those activists of love and justice whose passion
and commitment are an inspiration to those who are ambassadors of the same
objectives within academia. This includes many anarchists, many Christians, but
also many others who dedicate time and effort to the improvement of the lives of
others. To them, to all of the above and to all those reading these pages, I hope
that this book can convey enthusiasm and stimulate thought in the way the
Christian anarchist literature did to me over the years.
Introduction - Christian “Anarchism”?
Christianity and anarchism are rarely thought to belong together. Surely, the
argument goes, Christianity has produced about as hierarchic a structure as can
be, and anarchism not only rejects any hierarchy but is also often fervently
secular and anticlerical. Ciaron O’Reilly warns, however, that Christian
anarchism “is not an attempt to synthesise two systems of thought” that are
hopelessly incompatible, but rather “a realisation that the premise of anarchism
is inherent in Christianity and the message of the Gospels.” For Christian
[1]
anarchists, Jesus’ teaching implies a critique of the state, and an honest and
consistent application of Christianity would lead to a stateless society. From this
perspective, it is actually the notion of a “Christian state” that, just like “hot ice,”
is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. Christian anarchism, therefore, is not
[2]
about forcing together two very different systems of thought - it is about
pursuing the radical political implications of Christianity to the fullest extent.
A generic “theory” of Christian anarchism, however, has yet to be enunciated.
Several writers have adopted a Christian anarchist position, and some of these
writers are aware of some of the others who have come to the same position, but
a detailed and comprehensive synthesis of the main themes of Christian
anarchist thought has yet to be produced. That is, an overall theory of Christian
[3]
anarchism has yet to be outlined. The central aim of this book is to do just that -
metaphorically-speaking, to weave together the different threads presented by
individual Christian anarchist thinkers, to arrange into a symphony the similar
melodies played by each of these theorists. In other words, this book delineates
Christian anarchism by bringing together the main insights of individual
Christian anarchist thinkers.
But first, such a perspective must be located in the broader literature, both in
political theology and in political thought - the first task of this Introduction.
This makes it possible to then spell out in more detail the main aims of this
book, its originality, and its chapter structure. The more substantial part of this
opening chapter then introduces each of the thinkers who contribute to this
generic outline of Christian anarchism.
Locating Christian anarchism
In order to clarify what is original about Christian anarchism, it is necessary to
first contextualise it in the wider literature in both politics and theology.
In political theology
The modern, Western assumption that religion and politics are best kept separate
has been coming under increasing strain lately, from a variety of angles. Recent
scholarship, for example, has questioned the motives and the historical origins of
the claim that religion should be kept out of politics in the first place. William T.
Cavanaugh in particular argues that the very “creation of religion” as a set of
private and therefore apolitical beliefs “is correlative to the rise” of the modern
state, in other words that the modern liberal myth of their necessary separation
was a far from innocent product of the state’s successful outmanoeuvring of the
church for power and legitimacy in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe.
[4]
Even the typical Christian rationalisation for this separation - the “distinction of
planes” interpretation of the “render unto Caesar” passage - was absent “until at
least the late medieval period,” contends Cavanaugh. Hence whether secular or
[5]
Christian, the rationale for the separation of religion and politics has been
questioned.
Moreover, a growing body of scholars has made the case for the direct and
indirect political implications of Jesus’ teaching to be fully recognised. John
Howard Yoder’s Politics of Jesus, for instance, is an eminent example of such
scholarship. His book also helpfully provides a very comprehensive set of
[6]
references to the many other studies that have similarly emphasised the political
nature and context of Jesus’ teaching. Partly thanks to such work, “political
theology” is an increasingly popular field of study in academic circles (despite
the uneasiness caused by this term’s association with Carl Schmitt). Nowadays,
[7]
therefore, while it is possible to disagree on whether the political side of Jesus’
teaching was the most important, it is increasingly difficult to argue that there is
no such political dimension to it.
Away from the theory, in practice, scholars have also noted that there has
been something of a resurgence of religion in politics in the past decades, even -
if not especially - in the hitherto allegedly secularised West, which has witnessed
the increasing “collective mobilisation of Christians in large numbers across a
wide range of issues.” Yet perhaps the most famous example of recent political
[8]
engagement by Christians has come not from the West but from the “theologies
of liberation” of Latin America (and beyond), where churches have mobilised to
resist oppressive regimes and more recently the perceived oppression inherent in
global capitalism. These and other examples demonstrate that religion continues